Philip Goss did go to Granville, Massachusetts and he was there about six and one half months buying land and then selling it to his brother Thomas Goss. I took photos of the Old Settlers – see map below. It is much larger than what you see here.
I made an appointment with the special librarian of the Granville Public Library History room and she shared this map with me. If you look closely Thomas and Philip Goss are right there in the middle of the map along with Samuel Church. They are under Samuel Pierce. Just click on the picture and it will open in another tab.
A portion of the Old Settlers Map of Granville, MA where Philip & Thomas Goss had their land
I have tried to study this map and determine where Philip and Thomas’ land was located in Granville. Usually you see a lake or a river but this map is not real detailed making it hard to determine.
Philip purchased land from a Samuel Church and then later sold it to his brother, Thomas Goss. Here are the deeds.
Granville Deed 1: Philip Goss buys from Samuel Church 7 June, 1754 in Granville, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts Bay…Book 10, page 213, Witnesses Ephraim How and Michael Church, Granville, Hampshire County deeds.
To all People to whom these prefents Shall Come, Know ye that I Samuel Church of Granville in the County of Hampshire and in the Province of the Mafsechufetts Bay in new England for and in Consideration of Sixty pounds to me in hand paid by Phillip Gofs of sd Granville, Do freely convey and confirm to the sd Philip Gofs his Heirs and afsignes forever a certain tract or parcel of Land containing fifty acres in Granville aforesaid bounded as followeth, viz., beginning at the Northwest corner of Six Hundred and forty acres of land laid out to Capt. James Church thence ______ East one hundred and fifty rods and to Extend South so as to Contain fifty acres; To Have and Hold the above granted and Demised fifty acres of land with all the Singular privileges and appurtenances to the Same belonging or in any wise appertaining to him the sd Phillip Gofs his Heirs and afsigns that at and until the Enfealing of this Instrument I am lawfully Sized of the premifses __ have good right of In heritance in fee simply and do hereby Promise and Engage the above Granted premifses to him the sd Phillip Gofs his Heirs __ afsignes forever to Warrant Secure and Defend against the Lawful Claims or Demands of any Perfons whatsoever: In Witnefs whereof I the sd Samuel Church have hereunto Set my hand & Seal this Seventh Day of June A.Do. 1754.
Signed Sealed and Delivered in Prefents of ) Samuel Church & Seal
Ephraim How Michael Church )
Hampshire fs: October 8, 1756 Then Samuel Church the subfcriber to this the within written Instrument Perfonally appeared and acknowledged the Same to be his act and Deed before me David Mofely Justice of the Peace.
Rec. March 5, 1771 I Registered from the Original &p Edward Pynchon Reg.
Philip Goss IV did not dally he kept the land in Granville and in six and half months he sold it to his brother Thomas Goss on 17 February, 1755. Remember that Philip was Thomas’s guardian after the death of their father. Thomas was now 21 years old. I will write about Thomas in future posts. It is a sad story.
Granville Deed 2: Philip Goss sells land to Thomas Goss both of Granville on 17 February, 1755, L64 12 shillings, Book 1, pg. 127-128, Granville, Hampshire Co. Mass Bay. The witnesses of this deed were Enos and Ebenezer Seward.
To all People to whom These Prefents Shall Com Greeting, Know ye that I Phillip Gofs of Granville in the County of Hampshire County and in the Province of the Mafsachufetts Bay in new England for and in Consideration of Sixty four pounds and twelve Shillings lawfull money to me in hand paid by Thomas Gofs of s. Granville Do freely give Grant Sell Convey and Confirm to the s’d Thomas Gofs his Heirs and afsigns forever a certain tract or parcel of land Containing fifty acres in spd Granville afores’d bounded as followeth viz, beginning at the Northwest Corner of Six Hundred and forty acres of land laid out to Cap’t James Church, thence running East one Hundred and fifty acres to Extend South so as to contain fifty acres: TO HAVE and TO HOLD the above Grants and Demised fifty acres of land with all the privileges and advantages to the Same belonging, or any ways appertaining to him the said Thomas Gofs his Heirs and afsigns Executors and adminiftratros I Covenant and I the s’d Phillip Gofs for my Self my Heirs and administrators Covenant and agree with the s’d Thomas Gofs his Heirs and afsigns that Untill the Enfealing and Delivery of thefe Prefents I am lawfull safistied of the aboves Premifses and have in my power good Right and full power to Sell the Same in manner and form as afores’d and that the s’d Thomas Gofs and his Heirs and afsigns may Enjoy the Same so Promise to Warrant and Defend the land from the lawfull Claims or Demans of and Perfon or Perfons whatsoever. As Witnefs my hand Dated in Granville February the Seventeeth anno domini one thousand Seven Hundred and fifty five. Signed Sealed and Delivered In Prefences of Enos Seaward Ebenezer Seaward: Phillip Gofs & Seal
Hampfs: May [___th] 1758 Then Phillip Gofs the subfcriber to the within written Inftrument appear’d and acknowledged the Same to be his act & Deed….foram Ifrael Afhley Juft. Paces. Rec’d May 26th 1758 and Recorded from the Original
Edw Pynchon Reg’
These two deeds above were obtained at the Courthouse in Springfield, Massachusetts which is Hampden County. Hampshire County was much larger back when Philip was buying and selling land in the area. Hampden Co. split from Hampshire in 1816. This Wikipedia article might help to get oriented with the county changes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampden_County,_Massachusetts
I visited the Springfield Courthouse and did quite a bit of deed research there in 2011. It was a very interesting experience. Trying to figure out how to do research at the courthouse in deeds in Springfield was not easy. Here is what I wrote about my visit there back in April of 2011 on my Massachusetts Meanderings Blog. (See PAGE at the top of this blog for more information.)
“…I headed to State Street and turned west and spotted 50 State Street which is the courthouse. It is a modern looking building with straight lines and probably light brown or dark tan? I entered and had to go through security giving up everything but my shoes. Once through the line I had trouble figuring out where the elevators were and how to get to the fourth floor. A nice lady helped me. Once in the lobby go left into the hallway and they are there on the left a little recessed. The building smelled. The people were very interesting but it was no worse than the King County Courthouse in Seattle. One young girl was yelling in her cellphone about….a child? I think they were fighting over custody??The Registry of Deeds for Hampden County was a big room, tidy, and organized and there were rows of deed books. There was a receptionist and when I explained I needed old deeds in the 1700’s she told me to go to where the clock was (Administration) and they would help me find the Registry Annex.
After a nice chat with the assistant in the Administration area I was taken downstairs to the basement and through some doors past the lunchroom and into a small door and I was in the deed annex. A young man greeted me. I think I scared him when I did ask him what to do?
He headed for the computer and I knew that was not going to help me. The deeds online go back to about 1954. He didn’t find the names I had given him and was not happy with my lack of specific dates or an address??? Hmmm…I don’t think they had addresses in 1754 in Granville…? I asked if there were indexes and he took me to the grantor and grantee indexes that were part of this long table. They were underneath. We started with Book O at the end on the right for grantors if you are facing the back of the room the grantees are on the left.
I set to work after he found Philip Goss in the book. That seemed to calm him down some. Fortunately another young man came in and he was the official attendant. He had been on break. He was very nice, shook my hand and introduced himself. I proceeded to take notes from both the Grantor and Grantee indexes for the names of Goss, Cooley, Gibbons, Haskell, Brown.
The indexes were copies not the original deed index books. Apparently they used to allow access to the originals but not anymore.
Once that was done I started to pull the books and search for the pages. I concentrated on Philip Goss, Thomas Goss and anyone who did business with either. There were too many to look up so I had to focus on Philip Goss. I will prepare a table of my findings and add that later. There may be additional information from another source to add to it. The nice young attendant was helpful and made the copies. He did a very good job and was genuinely interested in making the copies good so I could read them. Photography was not allowed. I kept pulling books of the older records along the wall of the annex next to the copy machine. They were charging a $1.00 a page. So if a deed was on two pages you get my drift. I made quite a few copies more than they were use to. I was so excited to find Philip Goss’s name in the Hampton County deeds. I moved fast and will have to study them more thoroughly but I think it is going to be really cool. There was actually a deed involving a Comfort Goss? The deeds were not the original clerk books but copies of the deeds. I paid my copy fees, thanked the assistant and headed out. Now that I knew my way around it was easy to get out of the building. The building actually faces east with the stairs descending into the southwest corner of the Court Park. So I could have cut through if I had realized the locations.” NOTE: I apologize but the copying from one blog to another did not go well on the above quotation.
The Springfield Courthouse in Massachusetts
It looks liked you can research deeds at FamilySearches’ website for Hampden and Hampshire County. You will find all the older deeds at Hampden County Land records starting with Deed Index grantee and grantor at 1636 to 1800. Deeds start at 1638 in various volumes. Of course going to the courthouse was certainly an experience you might want to try. HA!
In the next post I will discuss Philip Goss IV’s next migration. He headed to Becket, Massachusetts which in those days was called No. 4. In order to do research on Becket I decided to make Pittsfield my home base on my trip there in 2011. I wanted to visit the Berkshire Athenaeum and the Becket Athenaeum so Pittsfield was the best area for me to find lodging and food. In my next posts I will describe my visit to the Berkshires which really doesn’t give it justice. I find that going to travel websites for an area are very helpful in getting oriented before I visit: http://berkshires.org/
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